Author: noniharrison

Teachers as leaders

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Throughout my teaching career I have been in the presence of many teacher leaders and have, myself, been a teacher leader in resource creation, curriculum development and technology. The level of support and modelling an informal teacher leader can offer others is often well-received by others, as a level of mutual respect exists and intimidation is eased as both teachers and teacher leaders see themselves as generally equal in terms of the school structure or hierarchy. However, the ever-rampant existence of tall poppy syndrome does often cut down those that appear to stand above the rest. Despite this, in schools where change is imminent, informal teacher leaders can offer support to both teaching staff and the busy executive by taking on roles that the executive does not have time or the expertise for. This may be in the case of introducing a new Learning Management System (LMS) for example. This is currently occurring at my college. An enthusiastic IT teacher saw the need to standardise and streamline our IT systems to deliver content to students with a more consistent approach and to store teachers’ work in a place that is accessible to those that need it. This teacher has, through his own initative, become a teacher leader to guide the process of adopting a new LMS and is now working to develop the system and roll it out in 2019. As a TL, I have assisted him by joining the LMS committee, providing feedback on appropriate programs, assisting with the design and layout, and will in the future assist in staff professional development of the new LMS. As Daneilson points out, a key trait of leadership is the ability to effectively collaborate with others to muster a movement (2007). Unfortunately, we have seen many teacher leaders lose interest and/or become stifled by an unsupportive executive team and environment. At times, those in formal leadership positions or positions of power, feel threatened by informal leaders and their capabilities (Daneilson, 2007). These feelings of unease lead to the shutting down of informal leaders and a sense of devaluing their work and initiative. Crucially, to develop and support teacher leaders, development opportunities must be provided and encouraged. This helps to create an environment conducive to professional growth and one that values the professional.

 

References

Danielson, C. (2007). The many faces of leadership. Educational Leadership, 65(1), 14-19. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/sept07/vol65/num01/The-Many-Faces-of-Leadership.aspx

 

[Reflection: Module 4.1]

Protected: Assessment 1: School Leadership Structure Concept Map and Critical Analysis

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Transformational Leadership

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I have recently come across a Podcast called We’re starting a cult hosted by yoga-instructor and comedy writer Alexis Novak and ex-pastor turned atheist Barak Hardley. They explore different cults around America and discuss what aspects of those cults they would adopt to create their own. It is very tongue-in-cheek; however, they explore different leadership styles and the power of persuasion involved in the realisation of a cult and the practices or strategies involved in retaining cult members. Despite touting that a positive aspect of cults is a sense of community and common vision and mission, Novak and Hardley (2018) also identify that this level of sameness comes under a much higher position of power and authority of the cult leader. Bass and Steidlmeier (1999) refer to the concept of degrading morality and exploitive leadership as pseudotransformational leadership. While this is not a desirable style of leadership, particularly for a school context, is it interesting to note the potential influence held by a leader and the power that comes with that. Gardner (2014) expresses that leadership is often distinct from power and authority but it can encompass one or both elements at a given point. Leaders may not possess power in the form of extensive organisational decision-making but rather power over others that persuades and convinces. A person does not need to be in a position of power or authority to lead. They can lead and inspire change at any level or setting. Gardner (2014) also emphasises the reciprocal relationship between leader and what he refers to as constituent rather than follower. Effective transformational and instructional leadership styles appear to share this trait of collaboration and emphasise staff professional and personal development, which may decrease the potential of one sole, power-orientated leader. Instructional leadership is particularly interesting in that these leaders develop a clear vision and mission with which to aim (University of Washington, 2015). While, transformational leaders design strategies to motivate the team to set and reach higher goals (Mitchell, 2018).

 

Would transformational leadership be best suited to organisations needing to introduce change, while instructions leadership would be most effective to lead the team after this evolution has occurred? Or are there multiple settings within which these styles would flourish? At this stage, I don’t think a transformational leadership style is only suitable for introducing and working through change. I think it could be effective in multiple settings.

 

Within an organisational structure, the manager and leader may form two distinct roles; however, they can also be combined. Managers are concerned with the daily functioning of a department and other organisational functions; whereas, leaders persuade constituents to follow by empowering them and entrusting them with different levels of responsibility. Gardner (2014) suggests managers require an organisational structure within which to work; however, leaders do not require an organisation. In an organisational structure such as a school, I believe leaders require effective managerial skills to meet assigned goals and requirements from curriculum, pedagogical, and school levels. Meeting these targets requires careful negotiating of resources as well as leadership capabilities to guide the team toward these goals.

 

After reading the article Teacher perspectives of ‘effective’ leadership in schools by Moir, Hattie and Jansen (2014), I have a clearer idea of where transformational and instructional leadership styles sit in the school context. Transformational leadership isn’t, as first thought, just about supporting big organisational change. It seems this form of leadership would work well for a teacher librarian (TL) who is engaged with the changing information landscape and who supports the teaching and learning needs of a dynamic 21st century-orientated school context. The “culture of risk taking and innovation” (Moir, Hattie & Jansen, 2014, p. 36) that is characteristic of a transformational leader fits well with the role of the TL and is explicit in Standard 3.3 of the Standards of Professional Excellence for Teacher Librarians (Australian School Library Association, 2004). Instructional, or pedagogical, leadership then seems to suit the position of a principal, as they are in a position to develop the school mission and support positive teaching practice school-wide in order to promote learning outcomes (Moir, Hattie & Jansen, 2014). There are multiple leadership styles that could be used in either position; however, after reading several articles it appears these two leadership styles are preferred among academics and practitioners to garner support, foster a discourse of collegiality and collaboration, address organisation changes, and support student learning.

 

References

Bass, B. M., & Steidlmeier, P. (1999). Ethics, character, and authentic transformational leadership behavior. Leadership Quarterly, 10(2), 181-217. doi: 10.1016/S1048-9843(99)00016-8

Gardner, J.W, (2013). The nature of leadership. In M. Grogan (Ed.), The Jossey-Bass reader on educational leadership (3rd ed., pp. 17-27). Retrieved from Proquest Ebook Central.

Mitchell, R. M. (2018). Enabling school structure and transformational school leadership: Promoting increased organizational citizenship and professional teacher behavior. Leadership and Policy in Schools. doi: 10.1080/15700763.2018.1475577

Moir, S., Hattie, J. & Jansen, C.  (2014). Teacher perspectives of ‘effective’ leadership in schools. Australian Educational Leader, 36(4), 36-40. Retrieved from http://www.minnisjournals.com.au/acel/

Novak, A. & Hardley, B. (Hosts). (2018, May 14). The Rajneeshpuram. We’re starting a cult: A podcast by Alexis Novak and Barak Hardley [Audio Podcast]. Retrieved from http://itunes.apple.com

University of Washington. (2015). 4 dimensions of instructional leadership. In Center for Educational Leadership. Retrieved from http://info.k-12leadership.org/4-dimensions-of-instructional-leadership

 

[Reflection: Module 2.3]

School libraries and school success

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The school library has the potential to contribute greatly to the success of a school. A library and qualified teacher librarian can support teachers and students to enhance their practice and learning through interventions, specialist programs, and collaboration. Brown and Malenfant (2017) identify five key areas that can enhance student success: library instruction, library use, collaboration, literacy instruction, and research consultation. Scholastic (2016) presents similar themes that enhance student learning: a credentialed school librarian, collaboration and co-teaching, technology access, and collection size. Even though these results are from America, there are similar findings across Australia. ALIA and Freedom of Access to Information and Resources The impact of great school libraries report 2016 outlines three crucial drivers that underpin school library practices and that also underpin the Australian Curriculum. These drivers include; reading, digital literacy, and critical thinking and research (ALIA, 2016).

School libraries are in a position to assist schools in enhancing various education outcomes necessitated by the Australian Curriculum. Of the General Capabilities, school libraries can address: Literacy, ICT Capability, Critical and Creative Thinking, Ethical Understanding, and even Intercultural Understanding through the material delivered and curated, and Personal and Social Capability through the teaching of self-management and goal setting while working through inquiry tasks. Additionally, the Cross-Curriculum Priorities can be addressed through the careful and intentional selection of resources that meet various organising ideas. I recently completed ETL503 whereby I was required to curate a selection of resources that meet a wide range of organising ideas within the Asia and Australia’s Engagement with Asia priority. This is a relevant and easy way to meet these requirements while alleviating the pressure from classroom teachers. I recently used this concept to present a range of novels to the Head of English for his consideration when selecting appropriate texts for the Year 8 Literature Circles assessment.

Despite substantial evidence identifying the positive impact a qualified teacher librarian has on student achievement, D’agata (2016) outlines many teacher librarians feel unsupported and frustrated due to a lack of professional collaboration with various stakeholders or groups within the school structure. D’agata (2016) specifically identifies the barriers some teacher librarians have encountered when attempting to collaborate with teaching staff; including, attitudes, roles and schedules. These barriers need to be overcome through advocacy and leadership. Schools must be able to see the teacher librarian at work and be present and active in the school community. Kemp (2017) suggests ten ways to promote the position and includes enhancing student literacy outcomes as a top priority. As experts in this area, teacher librarians can work to develop staff and student confidence in their literacy skills and to enhance these skills. Embedding an Academic Reading program is one such way to promote the importance of literacy and comprehension skills and to encourage co-teaching and collaboration with teaching staff. Embedding literacy programs across the school by ensuring the skills and texts are relevant and timely rather than bolt-on programs that simply teach the skills without context have been found to be most effective.

A school structure can both help and hinder the success of a school library. If outdated structures or perceptions of the library are in place, then school libraries will encounter many barriers preventing them from engaging effectively with the school community. While Cascio (2003) suggests 21st workplace organisation is shifting from “vertically integrated hierarchies to networks of specialists”, a school structure is a complex combination of a vertical hierarchy with elements of a web-like network. This makes illustrating or mapping a school structure difficult. There are many ways to go about this. The structure could be mapped in terms of big-picture decision-making and leadership or impact on learning. Below, I have chosen to illustrate how the library hugs the different elements of the school structure. The library and librarian lead from the side and from within by supporting the entire school community. I have also demonstrated a simplified illustration of the hierarchical levels in terms of impact on other levels. In this instance, the Executive Team sit above the Middle Leaders but also infiltrate all levels of the school structure, as do all other elements.

School structure demonstrating how the library "hugs" all levels or elements.
School structure demonstrating how the library “hugs” all levels or elements.

 

References

Australian Library and Information Association. (2016). The impact of great school libraries report 2016. Retrieved from https://fair.alia.org.au/sites/fair.alia.org.au/files/u3/Great%20Australian%20School%20Libraries%20Impact%20Report.pdf

Brown, K., & Malenfant, K. J. (2017). Academic library impact on student learning and success: Findings from assessment in action team projects. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/acrl/sites/ala.org.acrl/files/content/issues/value/findings_y3.pdf

Cascio, W. F. (2003). Changes in work, workers and organizations. In W. C. Borman, D. R. Ilgen & R. J. Klimoski  (Eds.), Handbook of psychology: Industrial and organizational psychology (pp. 401-422). Retrieved from Proquest Ebook Central.

D’agata, G. (2016). Teachers + School Librarians = Student Achievement: When Will We Believe It? UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones. 2659. http://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/thesesdissertations/2659

Kemp, J. (2017). Ten ways to advocate for your role as a teacher librarian. Connections, 103(4), 6-7. Retrieved from https://www.scisdata.com/connections

Scholastic. (2016). School libraries work: A compendium of research supporting the effectiveness of school libraries. 2016 edition. Retrieved from http://www.scholastic.com.au/assets/pdfs/school-libraries-work.pdf

 

[Reflection: Module 2.1b]

Efficient vs. Effective

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Although schools and teachers are at the mercy of the bell, so still working to the stopwatch, we are in the customer service industry whereby we work closely with people each day and must navigate different personalities and needs to produce relevant outcomes. Taylor’s stopwatch system (Harrington, 1999) is not the most relevant way of assessing output in schools, as the requirements are ever-shifting and new and innovative ways of responding to change are needed. This requires flexible thinking, the input of various stakeholders and the consideration of the needs of others. We’re able to employ systems or outsource processing to more efficiently complete stopwatch tasks, so employees can better use their time and apply their skills in more valuable ways. Although, efficiency is a must in our line of work, we also need to value the skills and time of others in order to produce results and respond to demands in effective ways. We are not simply reproducing the same item as in the case of Henry Ford. We are having to adapt our services to meet the needs of our clientele. In juxtaposition to Taylor, Follett posits that employees should have a voice and should share responsibility (Harrington, 1999). The consideration and inclusion of all staff in decision-making is desirable, as is a positive culture that embraces employees as individuals not machines. Command, control and compartmentalisation were organisational approaches of the 19th and 20th centuries; whereas, 21st century organisational and managerial practices are built on networks, flexible hierarchies, and intellectual capital (Cascio, 2003). As Colvin (2000) highlights, we are now mostly “knowledge workers rather than physical labourers” (para. 8); therefore, employees’ knowledge and dedication to their work should be valued to produce high quality work. Without a sense of value, ultimately efficiency will drop too.

 

References

Cascio, W. F. (2003). Changes in work, workers and organizations. In W. C. Borman, D. R. Ilgen & R. J. Klimoski  (Eds.), Handbook of psychology: Industrial and organizational psychology (pp. 401-422). Retrieved from Proquest Ebook Central.

Colvin, G. (2000). Managing in the info era. Fortune, 141(5), F6-F9. Retrieved from http://fortune.com/

Harrington, A. (1999). The big ideas. Fortune, 140(10), 152-154. Retrieved from http://fortune.com/

 

[Reflection: Module 2.1a]

Future Ready Librarians

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Being a future ready librarian means being active and engaged, predicting and responding to wants and needs, and advocating your role and services.

Make room for your students!

 

Reference

Tedx Talks. (2016, June 7). Changing the conversation about librarians: Mark Ray. Ted x El Cajon Salon. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IniFUB7worY

 

[Reflection: Module 7]

Censorship

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The issues with censorship. Censorship hides information and hinders critical thinking. Censorship: the "innocent" inhibitor.

 

Useful resources that discuss censorship:

Daily, E. (2014). How censorship in education is failing to prepare students for reality. Retrieved from https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/censorship-education-failing-prepare-students-reality-kt/

LaRue, J. (2016). All schools need book challenge policies. Retrieved from https://www.slj.com/2016/09/censorship/all-schools-need-book-challenge-policies/

Moore, N. (2013). Censorship is. Australian Humanities Review, 2013(54), 45-65. Retrieved from http://australianhumanitiesreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/AHR54_3_Moore.pdf

National Coalition Against Censorship. (2016). Censorship and the first amendment in schools: A resource guide. Retrieved from https://www.webjunction.org/documents/webjunction/Censorship_in_Schools_Learning_Speaking_and_Thinking_Freely_The_First_Amendment_in_Schools.html#censorship

 

[Forum Reflection: Module 6.2]

Collections Policy

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A collection development policy provides the framework that identifies the purpose, goals, scope and contents of the library’s collection (Oberg & Schultz-Jones, 2015). It is a public document created in consultation with the school community, which ensures quality decisions and consistency in collection development. Debowski (2001) recommends including the following items in a collection management policy:

  • Purpose statement; including, users/target audience, and collection goals, which can refer to ALIA principles
  • Selection principles; including, staff responsible for selection, resource formats, other limitations including language needs, duplications, cooperative acquisition, selection criteria, donations and gifts, lost items, purchasing and recording
  • Acquisition policy; including short statements related to, selection tools, priorities, suppliers, and other decision-making factors
  • Collection evaluation policy; including, collection appraisal
  • Deselection or weeding criteria
  • Review of controversial resources; including, a challenge policy

Debowski (2012) included various formats that are now defunct; including, audio cassettes and, in many cases, CD-ROMs. Online subscriptions, databases, and e-Books could now be included in the range of formats listed, as they are current resources that many schools require access to.

 

References

Debowski, S. (2001). Collection management policies. In K. Dillon, J. Henri & J. McGregor (Eds.), Providing more with less: Collection management for school libraries (2nd ed.) (pp. 126-136). Wagga Wagga, NSW: Centre for Information Studies, Charles Sturt University. (e-reserve).

Oberg, D., & Schultz-Jones, B. (eds.). (2015). 4.3.1 Collection management policies and procedures. In IFLA School Library Guidelines, (2nd ed.), (pp. 33-34). Den Haag, Netherlands: IFLA.

 

[Reflection: Module 6.1]